Follow Us on Google
tnp
Israel’s defence minister has said that a Palestinian scientist shot dead in Malaysia was a rocket expert and “no saint”, but dismissed suggestions by Hamas that Israel’s Mossad spy agency assassinated him.
Two men on a motorcycle fired 10 shots at Mr Fadi al-Batsh, an engineering lecturer, in Kuala Lumpur, on Saturday, killing him on the spot, the city’s police chief said.
Hamas, an Islamist militant group that rules the Gaza Strip, said one of its members had been assassinated in Malaysia.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said Mossad had been behind past attempts to kill Palestinian scientists, and the attack on Mr Batsh “follows this sequence”.
Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said it was likely that he was killed as part of an internal Palestinian dispute.
“(Hamas) blames every assassination on Israel – we’re used to that,”Mr Lieberman told Israel Radio. “The man was no saint and he didn’t deal with improving infrastructure in Gaza – he was involved in improving rockets’ accuracy…
“We constantly see a settling of accounts between various factions in the terrorist organisations and I suppose that is what happened in this case.”
Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the suspects in the killing, who fled the scene, were believed to be Europeans with links to a foreign intelligence agency, state news agency Bernama reported.
He added that Mr Batsh was active in pro-Palestinian non-governmental organisations, describing him as an expert in electrical engineering and rocket-building.
Mr Batsh was a lecturer at Universiti Kuala Lumpur, specialising in power engineering, according to the university.
